


The Sound of Distant Thunder

by limpinglamp



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst, Based on Carrie, Bullying, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:54:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23767249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/limpinglamp/pseuds/limpinglamp
Summary: Katniss Everdeen wanted nothing more to escape the hell that is Panem, Maine. Leave all of it behind; the bullies, the loneliness, and, most especially, her crazy mother. But with the realization of her suppressed powers, and the unexpected friendship with Panem's Golden Boy, Katniss' plans of escape change into something more...fitting for the Girl on Fire.Based on Stephen King's novel Carrie, and the Off-Broadway revival with the same name.
Relationships: Cato/Clove (Hunger Games), Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Comments: 7
Kudos: 18





	1. Dreamer in Disguise

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction ever so I hope y'all like it!

“I just feel so bad, Peeta.”  
  
My girlfriend, Delly, just got out of detention and I was driving her home in my car.  
  
“It was like something took over me. You know me, I would never do that! Poor Kat, she got her first period today, you know. Her crazy mom didn’t tell her anything about it, and we threw tampons at her and just made fun of her Peet, made fun of her ‘til she dropped to the floor crying.”  
  
We reach her house and I parked the car in front. I looked at her, and held her hands; she looks like a mess. With her clammy hands, and tear-stricken face, Delly really did look sorry. I have known Delly all my life. For the small sleepy town of Panem, Maine, everyone knows everyone. Delly and I were the typical couple who were destined to be together, me being the captain of the wrestling team, and her being the president of almost everything. A venn diagram of her friends and mine would be a perfect circle. I know Delly wouldn’t do that, she was the perfect student. Her best friend, Clove, however, was the most likely propagator. Her daddy’s a top shot lawyer and she gets away unscathed most of the time.  
  
Katniss Everdeen, on the other hand, is an enigma. We seem to know a lot for someone who never says a word. She keeps to herself, and ignores all the taunts. How she can tolerate that, I wouldn’t know. Her mom runs a small sewing business, and everyone knows her as a religious extremist. She would make Katniss wear these dark ill-fitting clothes, and style her raven-black hair in a long braid down her back. Always a braid, ever since we were little. Not that I kept track or anything.  
  
“Hey, babe. Everyone was doing it. If you want my advice, I suggest you apologize to her.”  
  
Delly’s face lights up, and she smiles for the first time since I saw her today.  
  
“That’s a great idea, Peeta! It’s so simple, I can’t believe I didn’t see it!”  
  
I give her a kiss good bye, and wait until I see her go inside her house safely. I drove off and my mind wanders back to Katniss. I remember when we were little, before her father died, there was something…special about her. For someone so small of age, she exuded so much power that most kids didn’t want to approach her, myself included. But there was something about her, something that kept me keeping my eye on her throughout the years. After her dad died and her mom went crazy, she tried to keep that power hidden, but even then, she couldn’t really hide it. I guess it was that plus the non-conformity, and non-caring attitude that made her such an easy target for all our schoolmates. We can’t understand why someone won’t fit in a certain stereotype. Sure, she was as religious and as self-righteous as her mother (or at least that’s what we think), but she was her own person and I admire her for that. It was just such a pity nobody knows her. Really knows her. We all think we understand her, but no one really does. She must have dreams too; she must feel the loneliness of the years.  
  
That night while I was thinking of a poem idea for English class homework, I thought of Katniss again, and I wrote about her. My pen touched the paper and took a mind of its own. I never knew how much I cared about the girl with the braid, nor how it seems like I understand what she’s going through. In some way, nobody really knows me too. Although I am surrounded by friends, nobody knows my passions and dreams. It’s nowhere near what Katniss is going through, but it made me realize maybe she isn’t so different after all. It took me an hour before I was satisfied with it, and prepared for bed.

* * *

“I know that most of you here have already been accepted to colleges, but that does not give you an excuse to slack off on your work. Fortunately, not all of you have been slacking off. In fact, one of you has written a beautiful poem, full of emotion and sincerity. It is entitled ‘Dreamer in Disguise’ written by our very own Peeta Mellark.”  
  
Our teacher, Ms. Purnia, gestures for me to come forward and read my poem aloud. I look behind me to roll my eyes at my friends, but instead saw Katniss. I stared at her for a few seconds too long that she saw me looking and bowed her head. I look away too, my cheeks already reddening from being caught staring.  
  
“Come on, Mr. Mellark! We don’t have all day, you know.” Ms. Purnia says, a bit annoyed to be kept waiting. I stand up, and read the poem out loud.  
  


_“An eagle's just another bird_

_until he can spread his wings_

_A river is just a sheet of ice_

_till winter turns to spring_

_And though the clouds may block the sun_

_don't mean that it's left the sky_

_Just when you thought you've seen it all_

_there's more that meets the eye_

_Like things I dream and things I feel_

_there's more to me than I reveal._

_And ‘cause I shine in quiet ways_

_I'm someone you don't recognize_

_I'm a diamond in the rough, a dreamer in disguise”_  
  


I looked up from the paper, and met Katniss’ eyes again. She holds my gaze this time, and I am the first to look away. I take my seat again, and my friends are already giving me crap for being a softie. Ms. Purnia applauds by herself.

“Bravo, Mr. Mellark! Such a beautiful piece from an unexpected source. Can anyone here share their thoughts on this poem? Anyone?”

As usual, no one pays attention. Ms. Purnia, unfazed by this, saw that Katniss for the first time was actually attentive.

“Ms. Everdeen, any thoughts?”

And for the first time since I've known her, I hear her voice.

“I-It, it was beautiful.”

Her voice was firm, and serious. Everybody erupted in a fit of laughter, and Ms. Purnia, unsuccessfully tried to calm everybody down. The bell rang, and everyone hurried to leave, Katniss included. I caught up with her, and talked to her, also for the first time. 

“Thank you for that. Sometimes it’s hard not to have anyone that can see you for who you truly are.”

For a moment, I know I took her by surprise. She was taken aback, first of all that I’m talking to her, but that didn’t last long. She schooled her features back to her normal stony expression, but once she heard what I said, her expression softened a bit. She must have realized though that I can never really understand her, so she politely excused herself.

“Yeah… I have to head to class now.”

“Don’t be a stranger, Katniss.”

* * *

My next encounter with Katniss Everdeen was asking her to Prom. Dressed in a nice blue button-down, and khaki pants, I stood waiting at her door with dandelions and two tickets to the prom in my hands. Her house was a simple bungalow. It wasn’t well maintained, with the grass overgrown, and the beige paint cracking. Still, it looked normal. You wouldn’t imagine that a crazy woman lived there. Katniss’ mom was not right in the head, no doubt about it. She didn’t start out crazy, she was a party girl if rumors were true. It was not until she met Katniss’ father, Preacher Abe, that she became religious. And it was not until Abe died, that she devoted her life, and Katniss’ as well, to the lord. She stopped going out unless necessary, and when she does, she makes it a point to be vocal about what she sees wrong with everybody. Mr. Carter smoking his cigarette is going to jail for such a vice, so is Ms. Leeway for wearing a “slutty” blouse. It appears the only ones saved from damnation is her and Katniss.

Thinking about that made me want to rethink ringing the doorbell and taking Katniss to prom. But I promised Delly I would. For Delly, I would give the moon. I still remember that day, a couple days ago. She was upset again. She tried apologizing to Katniss on the same day I recited my poem. Katniss must have had enough teasing and talking to that once she started apologizing, Katniss snapped. Katniss looked her in the eye and said, “haven’t you had enough.”

Delly had gotten into her head that if I would go to prom with Katniss instead of her, it would magically make things better. I told her she was delusional.

“Believe me, Peeta. It’s going to work. You don’t see her staring at you, but I do. She has a crush on you. Please Peeta, do it for me?” She then looked at me with those puppy dog eyes, and how can I say no to that? So here I am, standing outside of Katniss Everdeen’s house, ready to make a fool of myself when she rejects me. I ring the doorbell and wait. A few seconds passed and I am greeted at the sight of Katniss Everdeen herself.

Katniss is clearly shocked to see me at the door. We stand awkwardly, silence filling the gap. I hand her the flowers with a nervous smile. “These are for you. I hope you like them; they remind me of you.” She looks down at the bunch of dandelions I handed to her.

“What, I’m a weed? Is this some kind of joke?” She scowls at her feet, her words a whisper.

“No, no, no-”

She moves to close the door, but I jam my foot in between to keep it from closing. “You’re strong. When the world goes against you, you stand your ground.” She freezes, and I continue. “No matter how hard you try and hide, you stand out amongst the crowd. We’re all drawn by the power and strength you exude. I think that’s why they do what they do, they’re afraid of what they can’t understand.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you need to hear it, and I don’t think you know it.”

She finally looks at me, and I see that she has tears in her eyes. She quickly wipes it away and lets out a sigh.

“I’m not that strong, you make me sound like a different person.”

“But you are.”

We stand for a while in the silence, me just looking into her eyes and nose and… lips. Katniss Everdeen never looked as beautiful as she did now. She breaks my stare with a cough, and then I remember the purpose of my visit. I stammer a bit, caught off-guard.

“I-I wanted to ask you something, if that’s okay?”

“What is it?”

“Will you go to prom with me?”


	2. And Eve Was Strong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katniss' PoV of the shower incident and the events that snowball afterwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's me again lol. Sorry it's been a while, the whole quarantine is not a vibe, the HEAT is unbelievable, and now the first typhoon of the year is gunna arrive soon. Needless to say, it hasn't been easy :((

Katniss Everdeen’s life up until now had been a pot waiting to boil over. At 16 years old, she kept her head down for most of her high school life. She heard what they say behind her back, how could she not? Kooky Katniss, Prayin’ Kat, and, the ever so creative, crazy bitch. Katniss may be a loser, but she wasn’t dumb. She knew that those whispers were, like her clothes, hand-me-downs from her mother. Her mother who would scream if a man would even stand near her, who would sneer at women she has never met before for smoking or wearing clothing that showed skin, who genuinely believed in every bullshit she says.

Katniss would have been gone by now if not for Prim. The last gift of her father; Primrose was as lovely and bright as her name. Prim was four right now, too young to understand anything going on. So, what could she do? Where could she go? She knew she just had to bid her time, two more years and she could leave all this behind. To fill the time, Katniss would take odd sewing jobs here and there, saving all her money for their eventual escape.

But all that changed that day in the showers. After another grueling class of Phys Ed, all the sweaty girls dragged themselves to the shower room. The girl’s shower room was like a living hell for Katniss Everdeen because of the fact that it was a singular room. The school was apparently too economical to build stalls. Instead of privacy, rows of showerheads were fixed on one side of the room without anything that hid naked bodies from each other. Katniss usually waited for everyone to finish showering before going in herself. Today was different though. Her stomach had been hurting the entire Phys Ed class, and all she wanted to do was crawl to the infirmary. _Let’s just get this over with._ She removed her clothes and walked up to an empty showerhead.

All was going well; nobody was paying her any mind. That was until the girl beside her let out a shriek.

“Gross Katniss! Can you plug it up? Your bloody water is touching my feet.”

Katniss did not understand what she meant, until she forced her head to look down. All the blood left her face, and she crumples to the ground, holding on to her crotch.

“What’s happening? What’s wrong with me? Call Ms. Trinket, hurry!” she screamed to her classmates, but they were all just…looking at her. Some were even…laughing. It did not make any sense, she was bleeding! So much blood, on her hands and on her legs. Something hit her cheek. Katniss had seen that thing before; it was a tampon from the vendo machine. What it did, she never knew. Someone had thrown it at her.

“Plug it up, Everdeen!” Clove, _no surprise there_ , said while throwing another tampon at her face. One girl giggled, and then another, then the whole class was shaking from laughter. They began throwing more tampons at her, and other things. Katniss was on her knees now, head bent, but eyes wide open. Their voices were like crows, squawking and circling overhead. Katniss’ vision blurred, as she repeated over and over, _make it stop make it stop make it stop._ The years of torment now reaching its boiling point. A ringing in her ears, insistent and deafening. The fluorescent lights grew brighter and brighter and –

The room was flooded with darkness and screams. The doors to the shower room open, flooding the room with some light. Ms. Trinket shouts, “What on earth is happening? Jesus Christ, girls, get a hold of yourselves, everyone change into their clothes and get out!”

Ms. Trinket, the girl’s gym teacher, was an odd woman. Twenty years ago, or so, she was once one of those girls who did pageants and eventually coached beauty queens. Somewhere down the line, she ended up as Panem’s Phys Ed teacher. She wasn’t the best Phys Ed teacher, but Katniss guessed that her years of pageantry taught her a thing or two about commanding bitches to do what she says. Naturally, said bitches dutifully and hurriedly changed and ran.

Katniss was still on the floor, the showerhead above her still running. _At least,_ she thought, _nobody can see me naked anymore._ Ms. Trinket called out, “Katniss? Where are you sweetie?” Through the water streams still raining down on Katniss, she could see the blurry figure of Ms. Trinket with her kinky box-dyed perm, approaching her.

Ms. Trinket went over to carefully turn off the shower, trying her best to avoid the water. “Let’s get you all cleaned up. What in heaven’s name happened here?” Ms. Trinket grabbed a towel and wrapped it around the poor girl. 

“I need to go the infirmary, I’m bleeding!” Katniss couldn’t mask the anger as she spits out the words. “And it hurts, like someone kicked me.” She places her hand on her stomach, and Ms. Trinket let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh honey, don’t overreact. It was just your period.” Ms. Trinket said, helping Katniss up. She looked at Katniss and saw the bewilderment in her eyes. “Katniss, don’t tell me that was your first menses, you’re 16!” But she could tell it was her first. And for some odd reason, nobody bothered to tell her all about it. 

* * *

“Explain to me again, Ms. Trinket, why the lights in the girl’s shower room ‘exploded’?”

“Principal Abernathy, like I said, it must have been a fuse shortage or something. That’s beside the point. Katniss Everdeen was terribly bullied by the girls in her class! They threw napkins and tampons at her, like peanuts to a circus animal!”

Principal Haymitch Abernathy had been principal in Panem High for nearing two decades now, and he knew for a fact that the last four years with Katniss Everdeen in his halls were the most…eventful of years. Things were always…going wrong. Principal Abernathy had, of course, heard the rumors about Katniss, and her mother, but he wasn’t one to meddle into family affairs. Just one more year, and Katniss Everdeen was to be but a distant memory.

“Give the girls involved in the incident some detention or something. Do as you see fit.”

 _The lights must have blown a fuse._ Haymitch repeated this over and over again. To believe in anything but was to accept that something else is going on here. Something sinister. Haymitch felt a cold shudder pass through him. He could see the girl sitting outside his office. She was staring at him, and he never wished more than at that moment that the school would get rid of the bullshit idea of having windows for transparency reasons.

“Ms. Trinket, you can send sweetheart there home early for the day.”

* * *

The day of the showers was pivotal in the life of Katniss Everdeen, as her plans of escape had morphed into something new. She always knew that something inside her grew restless, something fiery and powerful. That day when she blew up the lights just proved her hypothesis.

As she walked home from school, her anger towards her mother grew. _Why didn’t she tell me? Why must she subject me to hell in school and in home?_

She slammed the door open, and saw her mother sitting on their old green couch, waiting for her. Diana Everdeen was once beautiful, or so she had heard. Diana didn’t really talk much about her past, it was as if her life had only begun when she met Katniss’ father. She remembered once, a year or so ago, when they were out shopping in the market, an old friend of her mother’s had approached them.

_Diana is that you? I wouldn’t have recognized you! How long has it been, 15 years? You’ve certainly…matured. I’m sorry, it’s just so strange to see you doing something so …ordinary as buying groceries. Is this your kid? Oh, how cute! You better keep an eye on this one! Oh, if you only knew the trouble your mom and I caused back in the day when we were your age. Christ Almighty, the things we did HAHAHAHA. We should really catch up, its been far too long. I’ll call up the old gang, grab a couple of beers! God, we are getting SO old. Anyways, it was really, really nice seeing you again. I’ve got to run, is your number still the same?_

Needless to say, they did not “catch-up” again. The phone did ring though, and Katniss would be a liar if she wasn’t the slightest bit curious to know more about this “old friend” of her mother. Maybe she could explain whatever it is her mother was. Her reclusion from the world and reality made her skin yellowish pale, her eyes constantly paranoid, and the creases in her forehead deep. She looked decades older than her 40 years, more so with her insistence of wearing black dresses covering her arms and legs. 

“Your school called,” she said, standing up. “Bow your head and pray, woman.”

She grabs Katniss by the arm, staring at her with wild blue eyes.

“And God made Eve from the rib of Adam, and Eve was weak and loosed the raven on the world. And the raven was called sin. And God visited Eve with a curse, and the curse was the curse of blood. Say it woman.”

She shook Katniss, and for a moment, Katniss was scared stiff. But then she remembered her power, she wasn’t weak. Her mother was weak and powerless.

Katniss straightens herself, and pushes her mother away.

“I didn’t know! They were laughing at me because you didn’t tell me. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Her mother was sprawled on the floor, and for the first time in 16 years, Katniss knew that her mother was afraid of her. She wanted to _hurt_ her. It would be _so_ easy to. But Prim, looking like she just woke from her afternoon nap, came running in.

“What’s goin’ on?”, she drawled out, her voice still heavy from sleep.

Katniss knelt down to take little Prim into her arms. She brushed her wild hair down, while whispering, “It’s okay little duck, you go back to sleep now.”

“No, let her look. Let her look how her sister has fallen into damnation!” Diana cried out, arms raised above her, “Lord, my god, with these hands I offer my daughter for eternal salvation! Spare her from the horrors of this world, spare her from the sufferings of womanhood!”

Diana dragged Katniss away by the hair, forcing Katniss to let go of Prim. At this point, Prim was full out wailing, tears and snot running down her face.

“Mom, please, not in front of Prim! She’s just a baby!”

“Look Primmy, look at your sister. We must save her! They could smell it Katniss, the evil men of the world, they will smell the blood of Eve and tear you apart.”

Prim ran and hugged their mother, rubbing her face on her long, black skirt.

“Please, Mama, please stop.”

Their mother paused at this, letting go of Katniss’ hair to pry Prim from her waist, but Prim wouldn’t budge. Katniss rose from the floor, she couldn’t bear to hear sweet, little Prim’s wails, now echoing in their small living room.

“It’s okay, Primmy, it’s okay. Look I’m all good now, we’re all good now. Go back to sleep now, little duck. I’ll come sleep beside you soon.”

Prim finally let go of their mother’s skirt, and took Katniss’ hand. Katniss led her to her bedroom, and lifted her on her bed.

“Now, Primmy, you just close your little eyes, and dream of all good things.”

“Can you sing for me, Katkat? Please?” Prim says, her big, blue eyes still glistening from tears

“Of course, Primmy, anything for you.”

Katniss took a deep breath, and started. She sang about meadows, and willows, and soft, green grass. Things sweet, little Prim, shut out from the world, knew nothing about. Prim must have tired herself out from all the crying, as she fell asleep quickly. Katniss wished that she and Prim could just stay like this, together in the quiet, forever. But she knew she must leave her bedroom to face the evil waiting for her.

As she closed her bedroom door gently, she was met with her mother’s eyes again. They stay in that moment for a few seconds, and then and there Katniss knew she couldn’t fight back, not without the risk of waking Prim up to witness their fight.

Th quiet didn’t last long, her mother came to her senses and dragged Katniss in their prayer room. As she sat in the dark, looking at the outlines of the small statues of saints around her, she knew that escape was not an option. She wasn’t going to run away anymore. Their mother was an evil in this world, and she cannot let their mother haunt her and Prim any longer. In the dark of the room, she held out her palm and concentrated all her anger and emotions to that point in her hand. A tiny flicker of a flame appeared, dancing in her hand. It was gone just as fast as it appeared, so fast that Katniss wasn’t sure that it really happened. But it did happen, and that night, Katniss had practiced until it was a steady flame between her cupped hands. She wasn’t going to be kept in the dark again.

* * *

The following day started out like normal. Or whatever normal constituted for Katniss. She heard that the girls involved in the shower incident got detention. Clove, who tried to fight back, even got banned from prom. She smiled at that. Clove had been her main tormentor ever since Clove’s boyfriend Cato made the meathead decision to slap Katniss’ ass two years ago. He got second degree burns all over his hand after that. Nobody really suspected Katniss, or nobody cared to, but Clove knew better. She may be a bitch, but she wasn’t dumb.

Sitting through her fourth period English class, Katniss resolved to forget the incident all together. She had bigger fish to fry, and this year was the last year she had to put up with all this bullshit, so might as well be consistent.

Looking through the window to the outside world, Katniss thoughts drifted off. _Oh, to be a bird, free from all the shit this shitty world brings. Nothing but the trees below and the sky above._ She heard Peeta Mellark’s name called, and her head snapped forward. Peeta Mellark is something of an enigma to her. The mere mention of his name gave such a heaviness in her heart. She let out the breath she wasn’t aware she was holding.

He stands in front of class and recites his poem. Like a moth to a flame, Katniss could not look away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes...i made katniss a fire bender mixed with a little sparky sparky boom man. (let me know if u get the reference lol)


End file.
